Early Intervention - Lawyer Outtake
by Tribal Matriarch
Summary: Outtake from the Lawyers perspective.


**Lawyer Outtake**

"I knew I should have had an abortion!"

David K. Lauer would have said that after twenty years of being a lawyer that nothing much would have surprised him. He looked at the woman in the small jail cell and shook his head, knowing she had managed it.

When his firm took on the case as one of their quota of pro-bono clients one of the junior partners had been assigned to it. After a few days of interviews the partner had asked to be removed as he felt he could no longer represent the client fairly. The firm had a policy of not making lawyers justify themselves in such cases and so one of the other lawyers had to take the case on. David, just having finished a particularly gruesome case of kidnapping, took it on as a kind of rest, after all it was a rather simple case, the woman had helped herself to her daughter's college fund because she had evidently believed that her ex-husband had only called it a college fund for tax purposes.

There was no tax break for 529 plans in the state of Washington, but that didn't mean that the woman was wrong in believing that her ex was just trying to be generous, after all she had been working in the Arizona education system for over a decade and they _did_ have such a plan.

It wasn't long before the story Renée Dwyer told started to give him an uncomfortable feeling. There was just something not right about the way she spoke about her daughter. As a family man with 3 girls that he loved very much, shudders ran down his spine sometimes at the way Renée spoke of Bella.

She was also adamant that Charlie Swan, Bella's father and her ex, still loved her enough that if they could contact him then 'something' would be done to save her from a trial and prison. It was only when he finally got hold of the man that he realised that Charlie was not only NOT in love with Renée, but he was the one who had insisted that the bank investigate the missing money and press charges for theft. In her rather less-than-full full-disclosure, Renée had failed to mention that Charles Swan was Chief of Police, that Bella was living with him to get ready for college and that Renée had actually lied to the bank to get her hands on the fund.

It wasn't the first time a client of his had lied to him it was just the way the woman was totally delusional about everything that ended up leaving him shaking his head in disbelief.

When Lauer heard about Bella's accident and calls to the hospital seemed to not be good news, he pushed his contact in the DA's office to allow him to escort the woman to see her daughter for what could be the last time. Surely, he thought, no matter how she acted in public, deep down she must care about the girl, and if she was in as bad a condition as the hospital said, then she would never forgive herself if she didn't see her child before she died.

As they had walked into the hospital and onto the floor with the ICU unit, they heard a nurse at the station telling another to page Dr. Cullen because Bella Swan was awake. He felt relieved, though he didn't have a very good profile of the teenager they were visiting he had actually dreaded getting her mother to her bedside in time to watch her die, or even worse, to get there too late altogether.

They moved down the corridor, in front of them a tall, blond man in a doctor's coat hurried into a room. Bella Swan's, Lauer guessed.

He watched astonished as the Renée burst into the room and threw herself onto the slight figure on the bed.

A man that he guessed was in his early forties pulled her off bodily and dumped her on the floor.

"My baby!" Renée cried, it would have sounded more believable if her voice wasn't filled with anger, Lauer thought.

"Renée?" the girl on the bed looked horrified that she was there. At least they were definitely in the correct room.

"Mr. Swan?" Lauer held out his hand to the man who had manhandled his client, guessing by his age alone that he was the ex-husband.

"Chief Swan." The man made no move to take his proffered hand.

"David K. Lauer, your wife's attorney."

"Ex-wife." How Renée had believed that this man would help her was a mystery. Lauer had a bad feeling… maybe he should not have tried so hard to get the woman all the way across the country? No, there had been a chance that her daughter was dying, he had done the right thing. A girl needed her mother in situations like this. Still, he was uneasy, the dynamic in the room was menacing.

There were 5 men, and three women, beside himself, his client and the patient. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end every time he looked at anyone but the girl on the bed and her father, even the doctor gave him the creeps.

Maybe it was that they were all so pale, and had dark golden eyes? Not brown… gold. It was rather eerie

"Should some of us leave?" the oldest of the women asked, as a matter of routine he looked at her when she spoke, she was beautiful. He looked around, they all were. There was something unnatural about the perfection of their features. There was something comforting about the Swan's… normal, safe, not perfect.

He agreed that there needed to be less people in the room. Maybe the uneasy feeling would go away if some of them left? Especially the hugely built menacing dark haired man, who he guessed was about twenty or so. Who were these people?

"It may be best," he said. "Mrs. Dwyer needs to be with her daughter at this time. I suggest only Mr. Swan and the Doctor remain." Goosebumps chased up and down his spine. He had never wanted to leave a room so much in all his life.

"You can all stay." Charles Swan almost demanded it. Lauer grit his teeth as no one moved. He was about to object when he saw the girl grab hold of one of the men… maybe boy was a better description, he looked to be in his late teens. A boyfriend perhaps? She clung onto him desperately. With her other hand she held onto the doctor with the same grim determination. The boy holding her hand stared at him. In a way the boy was even more disturbing than the dark haired one.

The girl on the bed was pale, not pale like the other people in the room, and not a natural paleness, he reminded himself that she had just woken up after days unconscious. Her head was wrapped in a turban like bandage, wires and tubes disappeared under the bed clothes and the gown she was wearing.

The woman who had suggested that they leave moved to Bella's bedside, she stroked her hair lovingly and whispered something to the girl. Whoever it was she was acting more like the girl's mother than his client was, she was still sat on the floor, evidently hoping for sympathy from someone he guessed as she kept looking around pathetically.

Things were out of his control. He didn't like the feeling and tried once again to empty the room. "It may be better if they all left, there are things that we may need to discuss that isn't for outsiders to hear." He directed the speech to Mr… Chief Swan. Everyone ignored him as if he hadn't spoken.

"Things like her theft of over $18,000?" Charlie asked in a cold voice. Renée at last got to her feet, Lauer stepped in before she said something she would regret.

"Alleged theft."

"I deserved that money!" Renée spat. "I gave up my life to look after her, you owed me!" Her hands were clawed at her side. He tried to insert himself between the ex-spouses but Renée moved around him, things were getting more and more out of control.

"You deserved nothing! If I had known how you were treating her I would have cut you off and taken her years ago." He saw Charlie press his hands into his ribs and seemed to have trouble breathing. There were things happening that he did not understand. He didn't like the feeling at all. The blond young man stepped forward slightly, the air of menace around him almost made Lauer ill, but then suddenly, for no apparent reason, he felt calm. He shook his head, it was as if it was filled with cotton wool all of a sudden. He couldn't think!

"You didn't care enough to find out!" Renée sneered, "All you were bothered about was your career and fishing with those half-breeds and redskins you love so much." Marvellous, he could add racist to the attributes of his client. He wished to God he hadn't taken this case!

"Please," a soft voice drifted across the room, it came from the young girl on the bed. She was on the edge of tears. Lauer had had enough. He just wanted to get away from the hospital and the strange atmosphere there, and by the look the girl needed rest rather than all this drama. "Just leave." She was almost begging.

He put a hand on his client's shoulder to attract her attention. They would be better leaving for now and coming back later, when the other visitors went home. His client, however, had other ideas.

"I'm not leaving until this is all sorted out. You should have told him that you took the money, I should have known you would say something stupid and cause me trouble." The sheer hatred in her voice as she spoke to her daughter sickened him. The girl had been at deaths door only days ago and he had brought this woman all this way to have her abuse the girl? He was actually pleased when the young people in the room made a barrier, blocking Renée from even seeing her daughter.

"I suggest you leave." The huge dark haired man said, the Doctor joined in the barricade, his voice and demeanour threatening.

"As Miss Swan's doctor I insist that you take this outside. I won't have you upsetting her, only minutes after she wakes!"

Lauer was totally disgusted, his client locked eyes on the handsome doctor and she actually tried to seduce him. In her daughter's sick room!

"Anything you say Doctor." She almost purred, it was supposed to be seductive, but it came out cheap. She ran a finger down the doctor's white coat. The dark haired woman who had been comforting the girl grabbed her hand and bent it back and then almost threw it off as she spat at the other woman.

"Keep your syphilitic hands off my husband or I will break them for you."

As much as he wanted to cheer, he was Renée Dwyer's lawyer, he stepped forward again but the doctor ordered them out of the room. The human barrier stepped forward one pace, in perfect synchronicity. The uneasy feeling of menace doubled. He grabbed at Renée this time and dragged her from the room. He couldn't escape fast enough!

The blond and dark young men followed, and so did the blonde and brunette women. Charlie Swan was the last to follow them and he closed the door behind him, but not before Lauer saw the bronze haired boy lean over and kiss the girl in the bed.

They got to the door to the visitors room and Renée refused to go any further. She moved into the room and sat stiffly on one of the chairs. She glared at her ex-husband, silently, but it was evident she was planning something.

"David," he had repeatedly asked her to call him Mr. Lauer but she refused, "do we have grounds to claim for negligence?"

"Negligence?" he asked, unsure where she was going with this.

"Yes, the school. The accident wouldn't have happened if they had gritted the car park properly." He regretted ever telling her the background to the accident. "That boy who hit her, his insurance should be made to cover her hospital bills, and she will need all sorts of care later, she may even be bad enough that she will need a specially adapted home." She almost sounded gleeful at the thought. Lauer was sickened by her.

"As soon as she is discharged she has to come home." Renée said. Everyone in the room looked at her in astonishment, Lauer noted their reactions carefully. There was more here than met the eye he was sure. "Now Phil has left I can look after her properly."

"Aren't you forgetting you will be in prison?" her ex asked.

"I'm sure, once the judge hears what happened that I will get a non-custodial sentence." She said smugly. She may be right as well. Especially if she did manage to sue someone and used the money to pay back what she had taken.

"Bella lives with me now." He said shortly.

"You work all day, I don't have a job. She will need care. Legally I still have custody. I only allowed her to visit you out of the goodness of my heart and look at what happens? Only weeks after arriving and she is at death's door." Lauer got to his feet, if he had to speak to her he would not be polite. He needed to get hold of his office. He couldn't take this case anymore, if they threw the book at her he would probably privately cheer. And that didn't do his integrity any good, wanting his client to actually lose her case.

The copper-haired boy slipped into the room and passed a paper to the Chief of Police.

"What is it?" Renée asked. "What has she done now?" Everyone ignored her as her ex-husband left the room. She got to her feet as if to follow, the blond boy rose as well and stood in her way.

"Sit down." He ordered. Though he was very young, no more than 20 or so Lauer thought, Renée immediately sat down again.

The atmosphere thickened menacingly again and he looked around uncomfortably.

"I'm going to go get something to eat." He said picking up his briefcase from the table. If he had his way he wouldn't be back.

"I'll come with you." Renée said. "after all I am in your custody." She smiled at him and battered her eyelashes, something he always thought looked stupid. Even though he had told her not to flirt with him, that he was happily married and not interested, she continued to do so. It was rather pathetic and desperate of her. As they walked out of the hospital he sent a text to his assistant back in Chicago.

"God I hate Forks!" he looked around the small town. It looked ok to him. Not exactly a hive of industry, but the greenery was a nice change from the big city. "The one and only diner is this way." She stalked off in the direction she had indicated. He sent a look at the hire car that was parked not 100 yards away, he opened the back and grabbed his carry-on bag and laptop case. It probably wasn't far to anywhere from here, the whole town was only about three square miles in total. The weather was very cold and drizzling, snow was forecast for later in the day but at the moment it wasn't too bad. They walked down the street to the corner of the intersection and he saw her turn into a building with the typical large windows half covered by crenelated cloth threaded onto a pole. The diner.

As he got to the door of the diner across the road and down the street to the right he could see a hotel. After his meal he would go and book a room. Two rooms.

He ordered the steak and was pleased to see that it was cooked to perfection when it arrived. Renée Dwyer did nothing but complain about everything. The town, the diner, the ex-husband, the girl. After a while he stopped listening altogether. He finished up quickly and paid at the counter.

"I haven't finished," Renée whined.

"That's Ok, I'm just going outside for a cigarette." He told her, "take your time." He hadn't missed the evil glares that the staff and customers were sending his client's way. People in small towns had long memories, and he couldn't imagine her making many friends when she lived her before, if her rant over everything Forks was anything to go by.

As soon as he got out of the door, he slipped around the back of the building, the car park had a few cars but no people in it, he contacted his office. His assistant was waiting for his call.

"Amy, get Paul on the line too." He waited until his partner came on and he explained that he couldn't in all conscience take this case any longer and he suggested that no one else in the office should either. There were plenty of small firms in the Chicago area that would take her on.

"What happened with her daughter?" Paul asked.

"There's something not right here." He told him, "I'm getting very bad vibes whenever I'm near anyone." He knew his partner wouldn't make fun of his gut feeling, it had often saved the firm both money and reputation. "We want to drop this. I know it seemed like a simple case of theft but there's something more."

"How far are you from Seattle?" Amy asked.

"About 3½ hours according to the GPS in the hire car, 150 miles or so if I remember correctly." He told her. "Why what are you thinking?"

"If there's more to it than you thought, maybe a bit of background information would help?"

He considered it. He had given the judge his pledge that he would deliver Renée Dwyer to the court in 8 more days, he was stuck with her until then when he could recuse himself. "Who do we know in the area?" he asked.

"Jason Scott." His assistant said after a pause to find the right file. She rattled off his address and number. He remembered dealing with Scott in the past. A rather sleazy man, but amazingly good at getting information, and a phenomenal memory.

"I'll call him. Book two seats on the flight home for Wednesday evening." He said. "I'd like to come home before then, but the whole deal was to get her here so she could see her daughter." And that turned out well, he thought to himself, as he ended the call.

Before he could get a hold of Scott on the phone Renée came out of the diner. Lauer suggested they head to the hotel and book in. She smiled at him and he did his best not to show his true feelings. She was visibly upset when he insisted on two rooms, and he slipped the receptionist a $100 to ensure they were at opposite ends of the building.

"I'm tired." He said, "I think the jet lag is starting to catch up with me." He yawned widely. The difference wasn't much but flying always made him tired, no matter if he crossed time zones or not.

"Do you want any company?" did she never give in?

"I'm going to ring my wife and kids and then go to sleep. I suggest you do the same, we will go back to the hospital in the morning."

"It's only 4 in the afternoon!" she objected.

"Don't you remember the doctor threatening to have us thrown out?" he snapped at her. She pouted like a six year old, he slid her room key along the reception desk, noticing the sneer on the face of the receptionist when she looked at his client.

"But…"

"Give it up Renée." The woman said nastily. "He isn't interested in anything YOU have to offer." Renée sneered back at her.

"Well well well, Rebecca Stephens, or is it Rebecca Cook again?" she asked

"No, it's still Stephens, I kept his name." The woman looked daggers at his client.

"Pity you couldn't keep his interest." by God she looked ugly when her face took on that smug look.

"You may have slept with my husband Renée but I got his house and business," she gestured to the hotel. "I understand all you got from it was VD?"

Renée grabbed the key and stormed off to her room. Lauer looked at the woman behind the desk.

"I hope you aren't entangled with THAT." She gestured with her head to the retreating woman.

"I'm her lawyer." He told her.

"Good luck with that." She sniggered nastily. "Charlie has worked all his life keeping folks around here safe, she should be sent away for good for stealing all that money." He didn't confirm or deny the case, but realised he was going to have to keep his ears open even more than usual, if everyone in town knew everything that was happening, it could cause trouble, especially if there were more women like this one who Renée had made enemies of in the past.

"Charlie was ever so pleased when his daughter came to live with him, he's a great guy, will do anything for anyone. It's a damn shame she got in that accident, we all hope she's going to be Ok. She seems to be a good girl, nothing like that piece of work that pretends to be her mother."

"She's awake and seems fine." He felt safe telling her, it wouldn't take long before the town knew anyway.

"I'll call Pastor Webber and let him know." She picked up the phone, but didn't dial.

"There were a lot of visitors with her when we left," he warned her.

"The Cullen's." She nodded. "Strange family, only lived here a year or so. I heard Doctor Cullen was the one who operated on her when she was taken in, she's going out with one of his nephews."

"I thought she had only been here a short time." He fished. "But kids today, they jump in and out of relationships so fast," he paused, inviting her to continue.

"Maybe, but she showed no interest in any of the local boys. If she was like her mother she would have been bed hopping from day one, but she's a quiet good girl by the sounds of it. Edward, that's the boy, has only been living here just over a week, but it seems the family were friends of hers from back in Phoenix where she used to live, maybe they were a thing before?" she shrugged. Lauer frowned, that was strange, Renée didn't acknowledge knowing them, how good a friend could the girl be to a family her mother didn't know? He picked up his key and headed for his room.

After a quick call to his wife to let her know where he was staying and give the room number, he called Scott.

"Jason Scott, attorney at law." The smooth tones of a receptionist greeted him. He almost laughed, Scott was more a private detective than an attorney.

"Would it be possible to speak to Mr. Scott, tell him David Lauer from Chicago needs some information."

"Mr. Scott is away from the office on Thursdays, he does… charity work, but I can give him the message." He groaned, so much for thinking he could get some quick answers, "Please hold the line." He frowned at the phone… didn't she say he was out of the office? Charity work? Jason Scott? That didn't sound right either, he didn't seem to be the philanthropic sort. Electronic classical music assaulted his ear drums, he winced and put the phone on the table as he took off his tie and shoes.

"Scott." The deep voice echoed, he picked the phone up. "Mr. Lauer, what can I do for you today?" he asked.

"I need some background on some people." He told his contact. "and I don't have a lot of time."

"What timeframe are we talking about?"

"A couple of days, but on the plus side…" he continued before the other man could object, "they are all residents of Forks, a small town northwest of Seattle, you shouldn't have any trouble getting the information, I just don't have time."

"Yeah I know the place." Scott said, "Well, not know it personally but I've had dealings with some people from there. Who is it you want the dirty on?" he asked.

"I'm not sure there's any dirt to get, but… First up is Charlie Swan, Chief of Police."

"I can tell you from the start that man is as clean as they come. He won't even let you off a parking or speeding ticket." Scott said. "When he got promoted to Chief of Police crime dropped to almost nothing in the area, he has connections with the Native Americans on the reservation too, he's as straight as they come. Anyone else?"

"Isabella Marie Swan, age 17, his daughter."

"Humm." Scott grunted. "Don't know much about her, the Chief's ex took her when she left him. The girl was only a baby back then. I remember because I handled a divorce case that named the Swan woman as the person he was having an affair with. I remember it so well because when we investigated it turned out she was sleeping with at least 6 married men in the town."

"Is the girl definitely Swan's?" Lauer thought it was a fair question.

"Oh yes, because of all the accusations Chief Swan insisted on having the baby tested when they divorced, he swore she was his daughter no matter the result, but it came back 99.7%." Lauer nodded to himself, making a note on his pad of paper. "Anyone else you need me to look into?" Scott asked.

"Yes, the family of one of the doctors at the hospital, Cullen. I don't know all their names."

"Cullen?" Scott's voice was suddenly high pitched, "is one of them about 20 years old, blond hair, 6,2 or 6,3 lean?"

He thought back to the hospital. "Yes he's one of them, there's a dark haired man about the same age, the doctor, looks to be in his…"

"NO!" Scott interrupted his descriptions. "Listen Lauer, take my advice. Leave the Cullen's and Hale's alone. You don't want to mess with them." What the hell?

"I only want some backgrou…"

"No. Listen to me, leave it alone. Don't get mixed up in it."

"Scott!" he was getting angry now, what the hell was happening in this small Podunk town?

"Lose my number Lauer, I mean it. Don't get in touch again." The phone went dead. Whoever the Hale's and Cullen's were, Scott was terrified of them, or at least of one of them. Considering the type of client Scott usually dealt with, being terrified meant some serious shit. The blond man at the hospital didn't look old enough to have a bad enough history to frighten someone like Scott. If he did it was probably public record somewhere. The family had only just moved to the small town? He wondered where they had come from, and why they had moved.

What was he to do now? He was only asking for background information because he was curious. It didn't really have anything to do with the case, and he was dropping Renée Dwyer as soon as he possibly could. The unfinished nature of it all rankled him, but he had no real justification for spending a lot of the firm's money.

God he was tired. He used the bathroom and changed for sleep. He really was jet lagged. Maybe in the morning things would look normal and he could dismiss the terror in Scott's voice. Or maybe he could find out some more things on his own.

The alarm on his phone sounded at 9pm, waking him. He groaned and automatically picked it up and pressed speed dial. His wife answered. "Is Lucy still up?" he asked, his voice thick with sleep. He always called just before the girl's bed times if he was still at work. He knew his eldest two weren't at home, one was having a sleep over for her best friend's birthday and the other was at a study camp for the college she wanted to attend next year.

"David! It's 11 here!" he groaned again, he had forgotten his phone automatically changed the time if they crossed the time zones. "I let her stay up until 9:30 but it's school tomorrow."

"Sorry love, I fell to sleep and totally forgot the time difference." He told her.

"That's ok, I told her it would be something like that. She understands, she is 11 now." His wife always teased him that he treated the girls like they were still tiny, but having lived in a house without much affection growing up, he swore that his children would never doubt that they were loved.

"How is everything over there? Is the girl ok?" He had told his wife about his client's daughter, but nothing at all about the case, of course.

"She woke up as we arrived." He said.

"Oh, thank God, she must be so relieved!" you would think so… he thought to himself, but just gave a non-committal grunt down the line.

"Have you had anything to eat?" she loved to fuss him. He explained about the steak earlier. They spoke for 20 minutes or so before he hung up. He got out of bed and used the bathroom. He was fully awake now. He dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and slipped his trainers on without bothering with socks. There was a bar attached to the hotel, he hoped they were still open, and then reminded himself it was only 9pm here.

When he got to the bar there were four others there. Two men were playing a game of cards and two others were sat at the bar watching a basketball game on the TV behind the bar. The woman who had booked him into the hotel was serving the drinks, the open door behind the bar led to the reception desk of the hotel so she could manage it on her own, he noted.

"Evening." He nodded to the men who grunted at him but hardly took their eyes off the game, all four men in the room were dressed in heavy looking plaid shirts, sort of an advertisement for lumberjacks, he felt out of place in his t-shirt.

"What will you have?" The woman wiped the bar down unnecessarily with a cloth.

"Whatever beer you have on tap." He said. She pulled him a glass and put it on the bar.

"Thought you were going to sleep?" she said, "or was that an excuse to get away from Renée?"

"I had a couple of hours, but then realised I hadn't called my daughter to wish her goodnight, and once I was awake…" he shrugged and she smiled.

"I just called my son to do the same, but he's only in the apartment upstairs." She told him, smiling fondly at the thought.

"How old is he?" he asked.

"17," she said, "and a right handful, you have any boys?" he shook his head.

"Just girls, he goes to school with the Swan girl then?" he asked casually.

"Yes, everyone was shocked by the accident." She swallowed hard, "That Tyler Crowley is always driving too fast, it isn't the first accident or near-miss in bad weather he has had." She scowled. "Lee was less than 10 yards from the accident, all the parents know how lucky they were it wasn't their child under that truck. The Cullen boy saved her life, if you believe what Mike Newton is telling everyone. He grabbed her and dived to the floor."

"And you say he's new to town?" the woman drew herself a glass of beer and moved around the bar to sit next to him.

"Dr. Cullen and his wife have owned the large house north of town for a few years, but they didn't move here from Alaska until last year." She said, keeping her voice low so that she didn't disrupt the men watching the game.

"And the others?" he asked.

"The dark haired two, Emmet and Alice, are Dr. Cullen's nephew and niece, his eldest brother died a few years ago and he adopted them, he already was fostering the Hale twins, Jasper and Rose, some folk around here are a bit scandalised by the family as it's obvious that Jasper and Alice, and Emmet and Rose are together."

"Together?" he asked for clarification.

"You know, together, together." She waggled her eyebrows. "anyway, they don't mix much with folk, then Bella Swan moves here from Phoenix and it turns out that she and Alice have been best friends for years and years, from what Lee was telling me. She just got settled in and Dr. Cullen's other brother and his wife were in a car accident and died as well, so his other nephew came to live with them, that's Edward the one who saved her. Brave couple the Cullen's, 5 teenagers in the house, and none of them their own? And them being so young too. Doctor Cullen is only 29, his wife 26. The boy's only been here a week or so, but he's already going out with the Chief's daughter." She smiled and giggled a little, "Lee was hoping that she would ask him to the spring dance, but she never asked any of the boys." She chuckled, "all the local boys were panting after her, but though she looks a bit like Renée it's quite obvious that inside she's more like Charlie, quiet like."

It was amazing. How much detail this woman knew about people that she had never met, or had at most seen a couple of times. When the house at the end of his road was sold he didn't talk to the new people for almost a year, no one knew anything about them (his wife would have been the first to let him know if they did!) that was city living for you.

He didn't want to bring up his client, especially in light of what he now knew about her history in the town. But he didn't even need to hint at it, Mrs. Stephens was quite willing to gossip where she was concerned as well.

"I know you aren't allowed to discuss Renée, but there's a lot of people… women especially… who are looking forward to her getting her just desserts." She had a malicious smile. "Rumour from the hospital says she is hoping to use her daughter to get out of prison." He wondered who had spread that titbit. "Well she's dead out of luck isn't she?"

"Is she?" he asked. "If Bella needs looking after…" he hinted.

"Well now, that will depend, won't it?" she asked, he looked at the smile on her face… she definitely knew _something_.

"I can't see Chief Swan giving up his career to look after her, I doubt he can afford it." He said, knowing from the background to the case just how much of the Chief's wages he had sacrificed for his daughter's future, just for Renée to steal it.

"Parson Webber went to the hospital this evening." She told him, he paused, his glass half-way to his mouth as he absorbed this seeming non sequitur. "And Judge Yorkie has signed some papers for the Chief and Dr. Cullen, that doctor, he's well off you know, all the kids drive brand new cars, and Edward must inherit from his parents, he's an only child."

Papers. Judge. Parson. No. He looked at his companion. She was smugly looking at him.

"They married?" he asked almost whispering.

"I wasn't there." She told him. "But Jackie, one of the nurses, dropped by an hour or so ago and she says that Bella has a couple of new rings on her finger and the room is full of white flowers." He smiled into his beer as he contemplated the death of Renée Dwyer's plans.

"I think I'll have another drink." He said, smiling at the woman sat next to him, she got to her feet and served him.

"This is on the house." She said happily. She moved to start cleaning behind the bar and he turned to the TV, happy to watch it and let his client get some much needed, undisturbed, sleep.

His alarm went off, jerking him out of a sound sleep. He looked at his watch, 6am. His associates would just be getting into the office. He took the pad of paper he had written on when he returned to his room the evening before.

The hotel had that WiFi thing, he was relieved to see the password on a sticker on the back of his room door as it saved him going to find Mrs. Stephens and ask her. He got his laptop from his case and logged in, he hated the thing, his wife always said he was born 50 years too late. He preferred paper and pen, letters, notes, anything you could keep and look back on. Electronic communication left him feeling unsatisfied, which was why he was having his assistant do the searches that he could probably do himself. He called the office to let her know that there was an email from him. He always did. She rolled her eyes at him when he did it too, he knew, but she was very good at what she did so he let her get away with that slight insubordination. He looked down at his phone after the call, supposedly he could send and receive emails on it as well, but he never bothered to learn how.

He'd filled in the names and ages of the Cullen/Hale family, once again blessing the fact that his memory was so good at remembering details. He asked for a quick search on each of them, where they were before (the hotelier had said Alaska, but nothing specific) the Cullen brother's deaths and the Hales adoption/fostering, the young looking doctor and his wife.

Almost as soon as he sent the email he had a return saying that she should be able to get some basic details before he went to breakfast, damn that meant he had to sit and watch the machine waiting.

He listed each person on a separate sheet on his pad. Not that he was expecting much about most of them, just specific facts like date of birth and such, but the tall blond youngster, he was expecting there to be quite a lot on him. Even if his records were sealed, there would be a record of the record, and his assistant was very good at finding such things.

Something struck him about the names as he looked at the list. Jasper, Edward, Emmet, Carlisle, Rosalie, Alice, Esme, most of them were the sort of names that were popular with his grandfather's generation, or before. Ok Alice was probably as popular now as it was at any time, but how many Emmet's did he know? None. Edwards? Maybe five or six, all in their late sixties or older. Carlisle would be the easiest to check, it sounded like a family name. Of course his being a doctor would leave a massive paper trail too. He tapped the end of his gold nibbed fountain pen onto the table, as he checked that the email programme was still working. The small picture on the bottom of the screen showed a computer and a small blue world-like circle that meant the internet was still live. How long did it take?

The notice on the door said that breakfast was served for those who wanted it between 8am and 9am. It was 7:15. Maybe he was more in touch with the computer age than he thought? He was used to getting almost instant answers for his questions. If he had asked for this sort of detail back when he first became a lawyer it would have taken days, if not weeks to get it, and here he was fretting because it had been more than an hour?

The machine 'dinged'. He double clicked the email and frowned. Apart from the fact that Carlisle Cullen was a licensed doctor, surgeon at Forks Community Hospital (530 Bogachiel Way, Forks, WA 98331, as if he didn't know) there was nothing.

Amy had added a note to say that Forks High School had all the children listed as pupils, so they were even younger than he had supposed, but she could find no record of previous schools, birth records, foster or adoption records, death records for the parents that supposedly were Carlisle's brothers, no police records, not even passports or driving licences?

A shiver ran down his spine. Something was definitely wrong here. Scott had been right, something serious was happening with this family. Were they in witness protection? He always believed that the FBI or whoever was guarding them would put a decent history on their protectees.

He picked up the phone, she answered before he even heard it ring.

"I know." She said before he could speak. "I've never seen anything like it. If it wasn't for the school I would have said you had the names wrong."

"But you don't even have the doctor's history? He must have gone to medical school at some point, and what about Alaska?" he asked.

"That's the thing, I have found records of several Carlisle Cullen's, even a couple of Edward Cullen's, in the medical profession, but they can't be your boys. The ages are wrong." She sounded frustrated.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, like this one, Carlisle Cullen. Worked at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca as a surgeon, his records have him as 6 feet 2 inches, blond, 120 lbs and 33 years of age."

"Sounds like our guy." He muttered, writing the name of the hospital on the doctor's sheet of paper.

"Yeah until you realise that that was in 1991. If he was 33 back then that would make him 52 or 53 now. There is an Edward Cullen, medical student, in 1985… a Carlisle Cullen in 1974, one in 1953, one in 1941… need I go on?" she asked.

"Maybe this one is the son of the first one?" he asked.

"There's no record though, no medical school, no hospital program. There is a Carlisle Hale registered surgeon at The Denali Center in Fairbanks Alaska, but that was in 1998. I cannot find anything!" she sounded more than frustrated now, she sounded angry.

"And nothing on any of the others?" he asked.

"No, and there is no death certificate for anyone named Cullen in the last 2 years by car accident, leaving a son either, so where Edward came from I can't say." She told him. "There are occasional things that came up in my search, Class reunions looking for pupils who have lost touch, friends reunited has several requests for all of the 'children's' names, but none of them match the details of the ones you sent me. There was even a mention of a Rosalie Hale of Rochester, New York, whose fiancée was murdered along with 6 others, though she wasn't suspected of it as she had disappeared before the murders, but that was in 1933!"

"Witness protection?" he asked.

"I've even phoned the FBI agent I know in DC." She told him, "He stated categorically that he has never heard of the name, and he was even willing to run a search for me, he was that sure they weren't one of theirs. Nothing, it's like they don't exist, they are ghosts."

"Thanks Amy." There was no point having her waste any more time. He looked at the clock, 7:40. "I'm going to go have breakfast and then see if I can see a ghost." He chuckled uneasily.

"Be careful, David. I don't like this." He agreed, she had never called him by his first name before, she must be worried.

He sat for 10 minutes, looking at the pages on the table. He gathered them together and put his pen on top of the pile. He would see what the rest of the morning brought him and come back to this later.

He was sat at the table as soon as they started serving, but his client didn't join him until he was almost ready to leave the room.

"Good morning." Renée looked surprisingly cheerful, he guessed that she had spent a considerable amount of the night plotting on how she could use the situation with her daughter to her advantage.

"Good morning." He answered politely, gesturing to the server to refill his coffee cup, his wife limited him to one cup at breakfast, but he reckoned the day was going to be particularly trying, so he had a second.

"I want to visit the hospital first thing this morning," Renée said, spreading cream cheese on a bagel. "The sooner I can arrange for Bella to be transferred to the hospital in Phoenix the sooner we can get everything sorted."

"Are you forgetting that the judge is expecting you back in Chicago next week?" he asked.

"She will be fine in the Phoenix hospital until I get released." Renée said blithely. He gritted his teeth to stop himself from commenting. The woman was planning to take a badly injured girl away from the support of family, just so she could get her own way? How long did she think her daughter would have to stay in the hospital 1500 miles from everyone who cared for her, alone? He was so very glad that the girl wouldn't have to be put through such an ordeal. He hid his grimace in his coffee cup.

"You can't be sure that you will be released any time soon." He warned her.

"I was thinking of asking the judge to move my trial to Phoenix, on compassionate grounds." She said, "I have a friend who works in the law courts in Phoenix, he has some influence with some of the judges, he may be able to help swing things my way."

It made more sense to him now. She had asked to be moved to Phoenix after her arrest, but as the bank was happy to prosecute anywhere it had branches, and as the obtaining of money using false documents was a federal crime, the judge had said she should stay in Chicago.

He drank his coffee without saying another word, and excused himself to his room. His client warned him that she was leaving in 10 minutes and that she expected him to go with her, she brought up the conditions of her release to ensure he followed. He guessed she wanted him there so that it looked to the hospital as if she had brought her lawyer to enforce her will, legally.

As they approached the doors to the hospital though, two men in police uniform stepped in her way.

Chief Swan, not in uniform, stepped out through the doors and handed her a set of papers.

"You can't come in. This is a temporary restraining order saying you are not allowed within 500 yards of our daughter." He said and turned to leave again.

The officers blocked her path as she attempted to follow him, she looked at the papers in her hand and tore them in two, throwing them to the floor.

Lauer picked them up and gave a quick glance at them. They looked real enough, and, he made note, the name was Isabella Marie _Cullen_, not Swan on the order.

"That is MY daughter in there and no lackey of my husband is going to stop me seeing her. She is the only way I will stay out of jail and I AM going to see her." she tried to push past the pair.

Charlie heard the commotion and stopped walking away, he turned to watch the spectacle his ex was making of herself. Lauer put his hand on her arm, hoping to calm her but she shrugged it off.

She was fast becoming hysterical as she saw all her plans crumble and prison loom. Her hands curled into claws and she lunged at the officer on the right. Her ex-husband stepped into her way, his hands blocking her attack. She went wild.

She knocked the man to the floor, kicking screaming, thumping and generally out of control. The two officers had a massive struggle restraining her as the man Lauer knew now to be Doctor Cullen rushed out of the hospital with a couple of nurses and carefully, but without seeming effort, loaded the injured policeman onto a trolley. Charlie Swan was gasping for breath, his face blue.

Lauer knew enough from over the years in court to realise that the man on the trolley was seriously hurt. He turned to see his client handcuffed, both behind her back and her ankles. The officer she had been about to attack when the Chief stepped forward read her Miranda Rights off a card. Lauer smiled, they were making sure she could not get off on a technicality. The officer not reading grabbed her shoulders, the other put the card away when he was done and grabbed her legs and they basically threw her into the back of the police car.

"They can't do this to me!" she shrieked, her legs appeared at the car window as she attempted to kick the glass. Where she thought she could go if she did break the window Lauer didn't know, she would still be handcuffed and hobbled.

He watched the disappearing forms through the hospital doors and turned to her. One of the officers was getting into the driver's seat so he knew she could hear him as he spoke to her. "I believe they can, you just caused grievous bodily harm to a serving police officer. I very much doubt if you will be seeing the inside of the Chicago courthouse any time soon, I guess you will get at least 5 years for this attack alone. If he dies, you will be lucky to ever get free."

He walked to the hire car, which was where he left it the night before and followed them to the station. Once inside he watched them fill the paperwork in on the arrest and he faxed it to the court in Chicago, he called the office and asked to speak to the judge, when he told him everything that transpired the judge told him to wait while he asked for a point of law referencing.

"I knew I should have had an abortion!"

The woman screamed from the holding cell. The police station was tiny, 3 cells and a small front office, a kitchen, a toilet and the Chief's office (where he was), which was big enough for a desk, chair, filing cabinet and nothing else. He looked at the picture of the Chief and his daughter on the desk as he waited for his orders. He was waiting a long time. It was almost 7 in the evening before they got back to him.

"Mr. Lauer?" the judge in charge of giving him permission to escort his client to see her daughter called him back. "I take it from you contacting this office you will not be representing Mrs. Dwyer on these charges?"

"No sir, I am not, nor do I believe I will continue to be her lawyer when she faces charges in Chicago." The judge hummed slightly.

"What we will do then is transfer the case to Seattle. You are recused Mr. Lauer, you may return home."

"Thank you, sir." He breathed a sigh of relief. The screaming in the background continued without pause. He wondered how many more hours she could scream before she became hoarse?

He put the phone down and stepped out of the station without telling his ex-client what was happening. Across the street the blond and dark-haired men, Jasper and Emmet, from the hospital room the day before, were stood watching. A shiver ran down his spine at the look they gave him. He turned and got in the hire car and headed to get his luggage from the hotel.

As he walked into his hotel room something made the hair on the back of his head stand up again. He carefully looked around. Nothing seemed to be out of place, everything was neat and tidy, but he knew someone had been in the room. He didn't know how he knew, but he did.

His laptop was where he had left it, so whoever it was wasn't a thief. He packed it away quickly, the rest of his stuff was already in his carry-on bag. The last thing he did was pick up the notepad and his favourite pen, he slipped the pen in his jacket pocket and was about to flip the pad closed when he realised what was missing from the room. The papers with the Cullen's names on them.

They should have been loose on the top of the pad, but they weren't there. He shook the pad, just in case, but he knew he hadn't slipped the pages inside any deeper. Nothing dropped out, no loose pages. He looked in the bin at the side of the desk, empty except for the wrapper off a Twinkie he had eaten the night before after he got back from the bar.

He picked up his various bags and left the room quickly. He paid for his bill and instructed them to drop Renée's stuff at the police station. He almost ran to the hire car.

He couldn't wait to leave Forks.


End file.
